Heed voice of experience on our soft justice system

JUDGE Richard Bray, in his retirement speech after 30 years serving at Northampton Crown Court, delivered a scathing review of the British justice system.

Published: 00:01, Fri, April 18, 2014

Critics of the British justice system say that punishments are not harsh enough to deter criminals [POSED BY MODEL/GETTY]

He attacked soft justice, saying that the Government is “preventing courts from being given the chance to send offenders to prison”.

He blamed politicians for failing to ensure that Britain’s jails have enough space meaning that judges cannot hand down custodial sentences as readily as they would like and leading to offenders being released ever earlier.

He also accused the police of “massaging” crime figures.

This summation of the state of how the British authorities deal with criminals is as accurate as it is damning. Allowing criminals to dodge prison time even when they are guilty of serious offences is a risk to honest citizens and likely to cause great distress for their victims.

Judge Bray also warned that politicians care more about votes than justice but the reality is that genuinely caring about justice and working hard to make the system fit for purpose would be an excellent way for a politician to gain more support.

Any politician who does their bit to ensure that we have effective police officers and that our courts have the will and ability to hand down tough punishments should be very confident of the public’s support.

Tax key to benefit costs

New Treasury figures show that somebody on average earnings will have to hand over a month’s wages this year just to pay their contribution to Britain’s £167billion welfare state.

The grim reality is that the cost of the welfare state has risen by 1,250 per cent since it was founded in 1948 and it is ill suited to the current structure of our population.

The costs of pensions are rocketing and will continue to do so as life expectancy increases.

As Dia Chakravarty of the TaxPayers’ Alliance says the Government could “make work pay by cutting taxes”.

Helping people keep more of their own money enables them to be more self?reliant and boost the economy.

100th birthday mix-up

Centenarian Evelyn Frost has just discovered that she has been celebrating her birthday a day late for her entire life.

She realised only this year when she requested a copy of her birth certificate so that she could apply for a 100th birthday message from the Queen.